On the third and top floor of Palazzo Grassi, the central hall houses a selection of about 350 specimens from the Historical Collection of Trieste and Rovinj, a collection of valuable Adriatic marine animals with an adventurous history. Fish, sharks, rays, mollusks, sponges, echinoderms, crustaceans and many other animals, collected exclusively in the Adriatic between the late 19th century and World War II, are displayed inside six circular showcases. The animals, perfectly preserved in alcohol solution, are inside precious glass containers, many of them of German origin and dating back to the time when the first specimens were collected. Thus, in this room the visitor can admire the great variety of organisms that have populated and populate the Adriatic Sea: a close look at their shape, shells, and appendages will serve to get closer to the type of life each animal leads. The exhibition panels that flank the showcases, in addition to introducing life in the sea and its inhabitants, present the great Chioggia naturalists of the past, the history of the collection, and the research that has been carried out at the Hydrobiological Station of Chioggia since its founding in 1941 by Umberto D’Ancona.